Zimbabwe government property in Cape Town to be auctioned

SOUTH AFRICA – International legal history will be made on Monday when the first sale in execution of a Zimbabwean property in South Africa will take place‚ the Afrikaner rights organisation Afriforum says.

After a five-year legal battle‚ a property belonging to the Zimbabwe government‚ number 28 Salisbury Road‚ Kenilworth‚ Cape Town‚ will be auctioned because the Zimbabwe government failed to honour cost orders of South Africa’s High Court‚ Supreme Court of Appeal and the Constitutional Court

The auction of the Cape Town property‚ it says‚ is a direct result of President Robert Mugabe’s alleged human rights abuses in his country.

AfriForum legal representative Willie Spies said on Sunday that the organisation had successfully assisted a group of dispossessed Zimbabwean commercial farmers to enforce a 2008 ruling by the Southern African Development Community’s regional court‚ the SADC Tribunal‚ in South Africa.

The tribunal ruled that Mr Mugabe’s land grabs were unlawful‚ racist and in contravention of applicable international law.

“After a five-year legal battle‚ a property belonging to the Zimbabwe government‚ number 28 Salisbury Road‚ Kenilworth‚ Cape Town‚ will be auctioned because the Zimbabwe government failed to honour cost orders of South Africa’s High Court‚ Supreme Court of Appeal and the Constitutional Court‚” Mr Spies said.

He added that AfriForum had begun assisting dispossessed Zimbabwean farmers and human rights activists in the country six years ago in a legal battle after Mr Mugabe had refused to comply with the order of the SADC Tribunal that his illegal land grabs had to stop.

“The order was registered in the High Court in Pretoria and AfriForum’s lawyers‚ for the first time in March 2010‚ attached the property in Cape Town following the enforcement order granted then.

“After unsuccessful attempts by the Zimbabwe government in the Pretoria High Court‚ the Supreme Court of Appeal and the Constitutional Court‚ to rescind the registration of the judgment in South Africa‚ the Sheriff of Cape Town will proceed with the auction on Monday‚” Mr Spies stated.

He said AfriForum regarded its litigation against the Zimbabwe government as a civil sanction campaign against the “ongoing and systemic abuse of human rights and the rule of law‚ and the destruction of land ownership in Zimbabwe”.

“When the auction takes place‚ it will be the first time in history that a decision of a human rights tribunal in Africa leads to the sale of a property of the country that has been guilty of human rights abuses at a public auction by the sheriff.

“AfriForum is also assisting dispossessed Zimbabwean farmers in a separate lawsuit against President Jacob Zuma and his ministers of justice and international relations.

“This lawsuit is in response to the South African government’s complicity in the illegal process that led to the suspension of the SADC Tribunal’s power to adjudicate on human rights abuses against citizens of member states‚” Mr Spies added.

The case will be heard in the North Gauteng High Court in Pretoria early next year. RDM News Wire